


The Wolf Who Guards The Hotel

by XavierTheBold



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Hazbin Hotel (Web Series), Helluva Boss (Web Series)
Genre: Alchemy, Blood Magic, Bounty Hunters, Classic Cars, Dark Magic, Demon Deals, Dungeons & Dragons References, Elemental Magic, Guns, Inspired by Dungeons & Dragons, Magic, Magic-Users, Mercenaries, Military Background, Military Backstory, Military Training, Motorcycles, Multi, Mutant Powers, Mutation, Original Character-centric, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Shooting Guns, Training, Warlock Pacts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-14 01:28:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,123
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29660364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XavierTheBold/pseuds/XavierTheBold
Summary: After Sir Pentious attack the hotel, Charlie decides that the hotel needs more security. Fortunately, Alastor knows just who to call: Ryan O'Leary, a former marine that knows how to brew a special potion called "The Hunter's Bane" that enhances anyone who drinks it and allows them to wield the forgotten powers of blood magic. Along with Cherri Bomb and Vaggie, Ryan will fight to protect the hotel from Kingpins, Overlords, and anything else Hell can dish out.Feedback is always appreciated!
Relationships: Alastor & Angel Dust (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor & Charlie Magne, Alastor & Husk & Niffty (Hazbin Hotel), Alastor (Hazbin Hotel) & Original Character(s), Angel Dust & Cherri Bomb (Hazbin Hotel), Charlie Magne & Original Character(s), Charlie Magne & Vaggie, Cherri Bomb (Hazbin Hotel) & Original Character(s), Husk (Hazbin Hotel) & Original Character(s), Niffty (Hazbin Hotel) & Original Character(s), Other Relationship Tags to Be Added, Vaggie (Hazbin Hotel) & Original Character(s)
Kudos: 11





	1. Falling Right Into Work

**Author's Note:**

> Feeling a little burnt out on Jack's Joint, so I decided to give myself a break and write this. Both fics will get updates, so no need to worry. For now, enjoy!

4:45 PM, Greed District, Hell  
He looked over the file one last time before heading in: target was a longtime tax-dodger who’d killed the last two collection agents sent after him. Now, upon hearing that the last two guys who’d tried this wound up sleeping with the fishes, most people would turn ‘round and head right back where they came from. Except he wasn’t like most people, he was, in a word, a professional. After double-checking the address he walked through the front door and headed to the back of the demure office towards the door labeled Gilbert W. Perkins, CEO. As he reached the door he was stopped by two burly men in suits who stepped in front of the door.  
“Can we help you, sir?” one of the meatheads asked  
“You can help me, by getting out of my way, I need to speak to your boss.” the stranger replied  
“Not a chance buddy, Mr.Perkins ain’t seein’ no one today” The other meathead returned  
“Alright, if you say so, I’ll sure to tell Lord Mammon that mister Perkins couldn’t make time for one of his men.” the stranger replied as he began to turn and walk away  
“Wait!” one of the guards exclaimed  
“W-we wouldn’t to b-bother lord M-Mammon about this now would we? Go right on in” the other guard finished for his partner as he opened the door.  
The stranger smiled to himself as he turned around and began to walk back towards the now opened door. Thankfully these guys aren’t hired for their smarts or this would have been WAY harder. He mused to himself as he walked into the office.  
Once inside he extended the claws from his fingers and balled his fists in such a way that the tips of the claws on his four main fingers were pressing into the palms of his hands. Once at the desk, he rested his knuckles on it and then leaned forward, the added weight and pressure causing the claws resting in his palms to break the skin and begin to draw blood, to which the stranger only gave a slight wince.  
Taking notice of the large shadow now looming over him, the man behind the desk looked up from his paperwork and said “uh, can I help you, Mr.?”  
“O’Leary, Ryan O’Leary” Ryan replied. “And yes you can. You see, there’s this friend of mine who says you owe him some money. Now, this same friend says that you’ve avoided paying him this money for close to a year now, and here’s the real kicker, it seems that the last two people my friend sent your way to collect this money just up and disappeared, how weird is that?” He continued, putting on a “you know what I’m talking about” tone.  
Despite this, it still took Perkins a minute to realize what Ryan was talking about, but when he did, a look of surprise crossed his face that only someone as experienced as Ryan could recognize for what it was: BS. Perkins then grabbed the back edge of his desk, seemingly to straighten himself out, but Ryan’s sensitive ears picked up on the faint click of a button being  
pressed underneath his desk, likely to alert better security than the dim bulbs guarding his door. Ryan, realizing that the jig was up, shot up from his position on the desk and thrust his palms towards Perkins, causing a wave of crimson energy to wash over the CEO, locking up every muscle in his body as Ryan vaulted over the desk and grabbed Perkins neck, twisting it sharply, snapping it and completely incapacitating him, at least for a little while. Thank Lucifer nobody here stays dead until they get hit with a holy weapon Ryan thought to himself as he slung Perkins over his shoulder and made for the door, which, unfortunately for him, decided at that moment to become filled with Perkins goons. Well, only one way through this Ryan thought as he closed in on the security-filled door.  
“UMBRAM ARMIS!” he shouted as he ran right into the center of the mob that was outside the door. Black tentacles shot from his body, piercing through the guard’s kevlar body armor and knocking them out of the way as Ryan finished his charge towards the door, having encountered no further resistance. As he shoulder-charged through the door, Ryan realized that there was no longer any ground under him, a revelation that came a second too late as he began to fall through what looked to be a portal hole that someone had cast on the ground. Unprepared, Ryan impacted with the floor of his unwanted destination face-first, not only knocking the wind out of him and his bounty off of his shoulder, but also causing him a mild concussion, as evidenced by his blurry double-vision. After a second, his vision returned to him and he started to pick himself up, when from behind him, Ryan heard:  
“Ah, Ryan, there you are my good man”  
Ryan whipped around towards the voice and drew his pistol, ready to fill whoever brought him here full of holy steel. His plan was cut short, however, once he caught sight of who’d just spoken to him.  
“Alastor, of course, how am I not surprised…”

“Hmmm…” Alastor thought to himself for a second, before concluding “because I am the only person you know with both the magical power and contractual authority to summon you whenever I wish?”  
“That was a rhetorical question wiseguy” Ryan snarkily replied as he holstered his pistol.“So what exactly was so important that you needed to summon me in the middle of a job?” Ryan asked, pointing towards the incapacitated CEO lying on the ground.  
“Ah, my mistake, I did not realize you were preoccupied. Here, let me clean that up for you, where exactly does this one need to go? Alastor apologized in his usual bland fashion.  
“Lord Mammon, and tell him to send the payment to the usual account” Ryan replied as Alastor quickly wrote the note he requested and dumped the bounty through a portal to Mammon’s office.  
“Excellent, now that that is taken care of, follow me, and I shall explain why I have summoned you,” Alastor said as he began walking off, with Ryan following behind.  
As the initial surprise and frustration wore off, Ryan began to look around, noting a double staircase that leads up to two long hallways with doors and further hallways on both sides, a large kitchen that connected to a small dining area, and most strikingly, what appeared to be a chunk of a casino that had been ripped from its original building, set down in this building’s lobby, and then fused with the existing architecture to create a seamless fit (this was more than likely Alastors doing). Then Alastor opened a set of double doors which led into a large ballroom with a table in the center where 7 demons, a few of which he recognized, were sitting and discussing something, but Ryan couldn’t make out what exactly. As they entered, Alastor announced  
“Greetings everyone! I have returned with the final piece to our master plan!” To which everyone promptly turned around to see who Alastor had brought in, earning a squeal of delight from one of them, a small cyclopean demoness who promptly leaped from her chair and ran over to Ryan ecstatically.  
“Ryan!” she yelled in a joyous tone.  
“Nifty!” Ryan said back, quieter than Nifty but no less happy  
As Nifty closed in, Ryan crouched down and held out his arms, which Nifty proceeded to jump into and hug Ryan as tight as she could, which he reciprocated.  
“Oh, and, hey Husk,” Ryan said, which Husk responded to with a gruff “hmph” and a short wave  
“What are you doing here Ryan?” Nifty asked.  
“Not sure, Al just teleported me here in the middle of a job and said to follow him, then he would explain what’s going on” He replied with a shrug of his shoulders.  
“Speak of…” Alastor said. “I should probably explain why I called you here. You see, a few weeks ago I began working with the princess” Alastor indicated towards a blond girl with pure white skin and red cheeks who smiled and gave a wave “and her friend Vagatha” he pointed to a moth demon with grey skin, long white hair tied with a pink bow, and one eye, the other being just a pink ‘X’ “on the princesses passion project to rehabilitate sinners and get them sent to Heaven, with Angel Dust and Baxter being our first guests.” Alastor continued, pointing towards a fluffy white spider demon with pink markings who was busy texting on his hellphone and a black angler fish demon who did not want to be there. “Unfortunately, the princess was lacking in staff, so I brought in Husk and Nifty to assist in the day-to-day operations.” “Equally, unfortunately, on the hotel’s first day of business, we were attacked by some two-bit kingpin by the name of Sir Pentious, whom I was able to quickly dispatch”.  
“Which was KICKASS by the way” piped up a taller cyclops demoness with white skin, red hair, and tattoos on her right arm. “Yes Ms.Bomb, I am aware” Alastor responded vaguely irritated tone. “Anyways, after that incident, the princess insisted we get more security, so after vigorous debate, it was decided that we would put out an application for new security guards, but the only people interested were Ms. Vagatha and Ms. Bomb.” “While they are perfectly capable fighters, they are simply not strong enough to keep the hotel safe should a larger threat come about. Now, this is of course, where you come in. You see, I require you to mix up some of that special serum of yours and administer it to them, along with guiding them through acquiring and utilizing a pact and its associated abilities, I assume you can manage that?” Alastor finished.  
“Hold on, you want me to brew up a batch of hunter’s bane and give it to two strangers simply because you asked me to do so!?” Ryan replied with an indigent tone in his voice.  
“Yes, yes I do” Alastor responded with no hint of sarcasm.  
“And of course you know that I am unable to deny you a reasonable request, as per our agreement?” Ryan replied.  
“I am aware of that stipulation, yes” Alastor returned, a smug smile on his face.  
Ryan just sighed, before saying “fine let’s get started”


	2. Alchemy 101

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan, Cherri, and Vaggie all head to Baxter's lab, where Ryan shows them how the hunter's bane is made and fills them in a little more on what they're getting themselves into.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm on a roll with this story, so I figured, why not double up? Enjoy!
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated!

A short while later, Ryan, Alastor, Ms. Bomb (who Ryan had learned was named Cherri), and Vaggie were in Baxter’s lab preparing to create the hunter’s bane, but first, they needed ingredients, which Al had volunteered to go get.  
“Alright ladies, while Al is out getting all the stuff we need, I should probably explain what exactly you’re going to be putting into yourselves” Ryan began to explain  
“That’d be nice, I’m not putting anything into my body without knowing what’s in it, especially if it’s coming from Alastor or one of his lackeys,” Vaggie said  
“Ditto on that first part, I don’t have much of a problem with Mr. Strawberry Pimp, but I’m not drinking some mystery potion without knowing what’s in it,” Cherri added  
“Well lucky for you two there isn’t much in it, just: wyvern blood, concentrated taint essence, fever bark, obsidian shards, and necrotic marrow” Ryan explained, earning a look of complete confusion from both the girls  
“Right, I should probably explain what most of that stuff is and does. Wyvern blood is fairly self-explanatory: it’s the blood of a wyvern, a two-legged, fire-breathing, flying lizard kind of like a dragon, it’s magical stuff and it’s what’s going to “soup you up” so to speak it’ll make you stronger, smarter, and faster. Obsidian shards also pretty much explain themselves, and when it gets into your bloodstream it’s going to make your blood more magical, letting you perform blood magic or “hemomancy”, which I’ll explain more whenever I train you on how to use it. Fever bark is the bark of the Alstonia tree and a long-time folk remedy for high blood pressure, which, if you couldn’t tell, will be pretty important, given all of the stuff that we’re going to be putting into your blood. Necrotic marrow is the bone marrow from an undead creature like a skeleton or a zombie, this stuff will give you slight control over your lifeforce, which along with the obsidian will let you perform hemomancy. Finally, the most important and mysterious ingredient: concentrated taint essence, which is a concentrated liquid form of darkness and evil, and when you take the hunter’s bane this stuff will replace part of you with and attune you to darkness, allowing you to sense and track magic and magical creatures unlike anyone besides your fellows. Does that help clear things up?” Ryan asked, finished with his long explanation  
“Nope,” said Cherri  
“Not at all,” said Vaggie “but,” she continued “it’s better than nothing I guess, plus we’re going to have to just deal with it if we’re going to stand a chance against the bigger threats this hotel’s going to face.”  
“She’s right, it’s not like we have many other options, plus if it helps keep Angie safe, I’m willing to take the risk,” Cherri said, putting on a confident face.  
“If you two are sure, then alright. All need now is for Al to get back with the ingredients” Ryan said when, as if on cue, Alastor teleported back in with all of the ingredients Ryan had asked for.  
“Here you are Ryan, my good man, all of those ingredients you requested,” Alastor said, stepping out from his shadow portal and handing the various bottles and jars to Ryan, who set them down on the nearby countertop.  
“I trust that will be all?” Alastor asked, preparing to take his leave  
“Yes...it...will be,” Ryan responded as he double-checked that he had everything and in the right amounts  
“Excellent! Now, hop to it, you three have a hotel to protect!” with that, Alastor exited the lab  
“Right then, let’s get to it,” Ryan said, wasting no time beginning to brew the potion  
“First, we’re going to need to mix the wyvern blood and the taint essence together then distill it down to remove any impurities” Ryan began to explain as he poured the two liquids into a boiler flask set on a stand above a bunsen burner, before stoppering the flask and shaking it to mix the two liquids, before replacing the stopper with one that had a hole into which he put some copper tubing that leads down to another smaller beaker with a similar stopper like the first, and finally turning on the gas to the bunsen burner and lighting it up with the ignitor  
“Now, while that’s boiling, we’re going to mix our obsidian shards, fever bark, and necrotic marrow in a mortar and pestle” He continued, putting all three of the remaining ingredients into the mortar and pestle he had nearby, grinding the obsidian shards and fever bark into a fine powder and mashing it together with the necrotic marrow, creating a black speckled paste  
In the time that Ryan was mixing the other ingredients, the blood/taint mixture had finished distilling, leaving behind a small pile of blood iron and black flecks in the starting flask and filling the second flask with a thin vermillion liquid. “Right, now that’s done, we move on to the last stage: mixing everything,” he said, quickly turning off the bunsen burner and began to scoop out the paste from the mortar and pestle with a spoon, dropping dollops of the white paste into the liquid, before finishing by taking a stick blender to the whole thing, completely mixing everything, causing the completed mixture to begin faintly glowing red.  
“And that is how you make the hunter’s bane, any Questions?” Ryan asked as he split the mixture between two stoppered bottles for the two women to imbibe whenever the time came.  
“WOAH, COOL!” Cherri said enthusiastically as she eyed the glowing mixture  
“Really? That’s it? Huh...this was easier than I thought…” Vaggie said, a slightly surprised tone in her voice.  
“Well yeah, making it’s the easy part, now we get to the hard part: taking it”


	3. Down The Hatch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After some preparation, Cherri and Vaggie finally take the hunter's bane, with explosive results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another update. Enjoy!
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated!

“How exactly is taking this stuff the hard part?” Vaggie asked, picking up one of the bane vials and looking at it in the light

“Well, for one, the stuff tastes god-awful, though it is made of blood, bone marrow, volcanic glass, tree bark, and concentrated essence of darkness, so that really shouldn’t come as a surprise. But for two, after you drink it, it HURTS, A LOT, and depending on what element you’re most closely associated with, you’ll either feel like you’re standing in the heart of a roaring inferno, you’re standing buck naked and soaking wet in the arctic in winter, or you’re making like Metallica and riding the lightning.” Ryan explained, cracking a joke at the end to try and lighten things up

“You know, the more you explain all this, the more it’s starting to sound like a sucky-ass deal,” Cherri interjected 

“Yeah, I’m starting to think this whole thing is just one of Al’s ruses to try and take us all out” Vaggie added

“YEAH WELL, THAT AIN’T WHAT’S HAPPENING!” Ryan shouted, finally blowing his top. “You can like me or hate me, trust me or don’t, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about what you think! The only reason I’m even fucking here right now is that when I first fell into this shithole I was scared out of my goddamn mind and shook the hand of the first person who said they could give me the power to protect myself, and now he owns my soul and I have to do whatever the fuck he wants me to! So, I’m sorry that this seems like a trick to you, I’m just doing my job! You’re more than free to walk out that door if you don’t want to go through with this, but if you do want to, then stop shooting the messenger!” Ryan finished his tirade

Both of the women simply stood there taken aback by this sudden outburst of rage.

After a few minutes of silence, Cherri spoke up “Hey, look man, I’m-I’m sorry about what I said, it’s just-” 

“It’s fine,” Ryan said, cutting her off. “I’ve just always had a short fuse. Now, why don’t we return to the matter at hand?” Ryan asked as he took deep breathes to calm himself down

Vaggie sighed, “Alright, fine, we’ll keep going with this, but if I find out that ANY of this was a trick, I’ll gut you from tip to tail, you got it?” 

Ryan, in no mood for further argument, simply nodded his head before announcing “Alright, let’s get you two ready for this, follow me.” and walking out the door with both bane vials in hand.

The three of them walked to Charlie’s office, where Ryan knocked on the door and quickly got a “Come In!” from the princess. Inside the office, Charlie and Alastor were busy typing something out on the computer and writing something on a piece of parchment respectively. 

“Ah, Ryan my good man, I trust the brewing process is complete?” Alastor asked, putting down his quill

“Yes it is Al, we’re ready for the next step,” Ryan said, holding out the two vials of bane

“Excellent! Charlie dear, this may seem like an odd request, but do you have any bondage equipment around?” Alastor asked

Charlie’face turned beet red before she sheepishly squeaked out “Oh, uh...I’m uh...n-not s-sure, Al, w-why do you ask?”

Alastor, being oblivious to the meaning of the words he just said, simply pointed towards Ryan and said “Why don’t I let Ryan explain, he can tell you better than I.” 

Ryan facepalmed before explaining “drinking the hunter’s bane causes the drinker extreme pain, what Al is asking for is something like handcuffs or rope to keep them from hurting themselves, not BDSM gear.”

Charlie’s face began to cool off as Ryan explained. “Oh, I see. Hmmm...Oh! I think there are some old St. Andrews crosses in the basement from when my parents used to use this place. Yeah, they were used for exactly what you think they were, but, I know that they were cleaned before they were put away, so they should be fine. Let me get my key and I’ll show them to you.” Charlie explained as she pulled a large ring of keys off of a hook on the wall and began to search through them until she found the one she was looking for, then she leads everyone out of her office and to a locked door marked “ **Employees Only”** in the lobby, which she then unlocked and flicked on the light at the top of the stairs, and then lead everyone down the staircase into the dank basement.

The basement was completely unfinished and was mostly used for storage. There were boxes of various holiday decorations, extra tables, chairs, silverware, pretty much anything a hotel might need. But most importantly, up against the far was a pair of St. Andrews crosses, just like Charlie said there were.

“There they are,” Charlie said, pointing over to where they were

“Alright, let’s get a look at these, see if they’ll work,” Ryan said, walking over to examine them.

They were pretty standard but solidly built; a sturdy wooden ‘X’ on a nice wide base with a padded leather front and leather cuffs at the end of each arm

“Oh yeah, these will do nicely, now the only question is, where are we going to put them, hmmm…” Ryan thought aloud as he began to ponder. After some thinking, Ryan decided that they would have to go out back in the courtyard to best minimize unnecessary property damage.

“Right, we’re going to put these out back in the courtyard so that we don’t destroy everything. Everyone, pair up and grab a cross” Ryan ordered, with Charlie and Vaggie grabbing one and him and Cherri grabbing the other, which they quickly hauled up the stairs and out into the courtyard.

“Whew, damn, those things are HEAVY” Cherri complained as she wiped some sweat from her head

“Thank Lucifer they are, you start flailing like madwomen on something lighter, you’ll come crashing down:” Ryan explained. “Now, enough messing around, let’s get this done, each of you picks one”

Once the two had gotten to their crosses, Ryan turned to Charlie and handed her one of the bane vials “Alright, be careful with this, make sure it doesn’t break. Now, I’m going to need you to strap Vaggie in while I strap Cherri in” Ryan said as both strapped their respective person to their crosses. Once this was done, Ryan then uncorked his bane vial and had Charlie do the same “Alright, on three, pour the whole vial down their throat, every last drop, got it?”

“Got it!” Charlie responded

“Okay, on 3. 1...2...3!” and with that, they poured the potion down the throats of the two women on the crosses, who both hacked and wheezed at the awful taste of the concoction

“Alright, what now?” Charlie asked

“Now? Now we back up, WAY UP” Ryan replied as both backed away

Almost immediately, the air around the two women began to ripple with their respective elements, with the air around Vaggie visibly humming with static and the air around Cherri rippling with heat.

This quickly increased in intensity, which began to cause the women pain, starting with soft curses and sharp exhales through the teeth and escalating to screams and curses of pain as the two became enraptured in their elements, Cherri glowing a bright, burning orange and Vaggie glowing an electric neon blue. The two thrashed in pain, trying in vain to break their restraints.

This all reached a crescendo as both glowed the brightest yet, and exploded into bursts of elemental energy.

Then, everything was quiet once more, the two women now passed out in their restraint with minor marks on their ankles and wrists from their furious escape attempts but otherwise unharmed.

“Damn, I forget how intense this whole process is...Reminds me of the time I took mine, my sink was making slush for a week!” Ryan reminisced to himself before he remembered that he should probably get the two down.

Once they were free, Charlie told Ryan what to do “Take Cherri up to one of the empty rooms, the keys are behind the front desk, just take one, doesn’t matter which, and I’ll take Vaggie up to hers. And with that, the two headed back into the hotel, unconscious friends in tow.


	4. Just Sign On The Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up after imbibing the hunter's bane, Cherri and Vaggie complete their preparations by signing a contract with either Charlie Alastor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fairly short chapter, but we're setting up for a dense next chapter. Enjoy!
> 
> As always, feedback is appreciated!

An hour or so later, Cherri began to regain consciousness. As her vision began to clear, she found herself laying on a bed in one of the hotel’s rooms with the light of the setting pentagram sun streaming through the window and Ryan cleaning his disassembled pistol on a small folding table while he sat in the chair in the corner of the room.

“Mornin’ sleepin’ beauty,” Ryan said, not looking up from his task

“Ugh, what happened?” Cherri grumbled out, holding her pounding head

“You survived the hunter’s bane, that’s what! Congrats on that by the way.” Ryan explained 

“Oh yeah…” Cherri said as the events of the past few hours started coming back to her

“I have to say, I’m impressed. I’ve never seen someone survive the trial of flames as well you did! When confronted with temperatures hot enough to set their blood to boil, most scarcely keep their skin, let alone their clothes! I think you’ve got some serious potential Cherri!” Ryan exclaimed 

“Oh, uh, thanks, Ryan…” Cherri blushed a little at the compliment (not that Ryan noticed) “But I’ve always had that. Well, fireproof skin at least, the fireproof clothes are more of a recent thing”

“Why’s that?” Ryan asked

“Well, you end up running butt ass naked live on the 666 news after a misthrown incendiary bomb, you kinda learn your lesson” Cherri explained, a slight smile spreading across her face as she remembered how crazy of a day that’d wound up being

“Oh yeah, I get you, I wouldn’t want anyone seeing all that for free either.” Ryan snickered, prompting Cherri’s face to turn as red as her hair as she adopted an embarrassed expression and threw her pillow at Ryan, who blocked it with his arm as he continued to snicker

“Well, that lets me know that your brain hasn’t turned to mush.” He laughed. “Once you’re fully awake, get your shoes back on, we’ve got one last thing to do before we’re done.” Cherri just huffed and crossed her arms, her face still a bright red, and Ryan just kept snickering to himself as he got back to cleaning his pistol

A few minutes later, Cherri’s face had faded back to normal and Ryan had finished cleaning his pistol, so once Cherri got back into her shoes, the two of them headed to Charlie’s office

When they arrived at Charlie’s office, Ryan walked in without knocking, the group inside having been waiting on Ryan and Cherri to arrive.

Inside, Charlie and Alastor were sitting in two chairs behind the desk, and Vaggie was sitting in one in front of the desk, with another empty one next to hers, which Ryan had Cherri sit down in before he walked behind the desk and began to explain

“Alright, now that you’ve survived the hunter’s bane, it’s time for the last part of the process: making a pact.”

“Wait, WHAT!?” Vaggie exclaimed

“Please save all questions until I am finished explaining.” Ryan cut Vaggie off. “Making a pact will allow you to access non-blood-based magic and will also grant you different boons based on who you choose as your patron once you’re strong enough. Now, we have two options for your patron: Charlie and Alastor, each with their bonuses. Charlie’s angelic heritage will grant you access to spells that protect and heal, and your hemomancy will focus on similar. While by contrast, Alastor’s black magic abilities will grant you access to spells and hemomancy that focus on damaging and demoralizing your opponents. Before you choose, allow me to assuage your fears by assuring you that both Charlie and Alastor have agreed to a strict set of rules for the making of these contracts such that you will not be bound into eternal servitude, have your soul ripped from your body, or have any other such events befall you at the hands of your patron. Now, you may choose.” Ryan finished

Despite being assured that nothing bad would happen to her, Vaggie immediately grabbed one of Charlie’s contracts, a clean white document created in a word processing program, and printed out onto letterhead paper with Charlie’s information at the top

By contrast, after a few moments of thinking, Cherri said “sorry princess, I respect what you’re trying to do here, but in terms of sheer ass-kicking power, Al’s where it’s at” and decided on taking one of Alastor’s contracts, a yellowed piece of parchment (a material typically made of sheep or cow skin, though in this case, it was likely either deer or demon skin) with text handwritten using a quill and ink

Both contracts effectively said the same thing despite their different authors, as dictated by the contract creation rules that they had laid down. The text could be best summarized as:

**I, (Insert signee name here) do hereby agree to work as security for** **_The Happy Hotel™,_ ** **using the provided magic to assist me in this, in exchange for an agreed-upon rate of pay and continued personal use of the above magic. I the signee also recognize that should I fail in the above obligations, my patron (Insert patron name here) reserves the right to revoke the above pay and personal magic use.**

**Signed,**

**(Signee signature) & (Patron signature)**

After looking over the contracts, the two signed their respective contracts and passed them back to their patrons who signed their lines. Once this was done, a wave of power washed over both the women, with divine light radiating from Vaggie and less than divine wisps of shadow coming from Cherri

“Woah,” Vaggie said, taken by surprise by the sudden surge of strength she felt

“Yeah, this is one Hell of a buzz” Cherri chimed in

“Alright!” Ryan exclaimed, glad for the process to finally be over and to welcome two new members to his order. “You’re both finally done, congratulations on becoming junior blood hunters! Tomorrow your training, courtesy of yours truly, begins. But until then, it was a pleasure meeting you both. Al, if you would please, I should be getting back to my bike before someone steals it.”

“Small problem there my good man. You see, while you were working with Mrs. Vagatha and Mrs. Cherri, I became entangled in some other business and unfortunately, I had to use most of my remaining energy, so I’m afraid I won’t be able to teleport you back to your motorbike.” Al explained

Ryan sighed “Ah, well that’s fine, I’m sure I can find my back”

“Hey, why don’t you just ride with me? I’ve got to head back home anyway, I’m sure it’s not too far of a detour, where’d you leave your bike?” Cherri offered

“A little ways into the greed district in a parking garage, I could give you directions” Ryan replied

“Yeah, I can do that, I have to head through there to get home anyway,” Cherri assured

“Really? Awesome! In that case, lead the way. See the rest of you tomorrow” Ryan said as he and Cherri headed out the door


	5. The Drive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan and Cherri drive to the greed district so Ryan can pick his bike up. Along the way, they learn more about each other and feelings start to take root.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, BIG exposition dump in this one! The girl's training should start in the next chapter.  
> But for now, Enjoy!

Once outside, the two of them headed towards the parking lot where there a total of two vehicles: a limousine that belonged to the royal family (and the hotel thereby), and a glossy cherry red ‘66 Camero convertible with a white leather interior and a big black skull painted on the hood, it didn’t take a genius to figure out who THIS car belonged to.

“So, I’m going to take it that the only car in the lot not owned by the royal family is yours?” Ryan asked sarcastically

“You assume correctly sir!” Cherri replied, ignoring his obvious sarcasm

“ It’s a beautiful car, it must’ve taken you forever to put it together” Ryan commented, taking an appreciative look over

“You bet your sorry ass it did! 8 solid years of work! V8 engine, race-grade tires, custom detailing, interior, and decals, along with kevlar infused seat fabric, bulletproof glass windows, and bulletproof body!” Cherri geeked out

Ryan raised his eyebrows and let out a whistle of amazement at all of the work Cherri had put into her car, obviously wanting it to be ready for anything she came up against.

“I know, impressive, right? Hop in and I’ll fire this baby up!” She said enthusiastically as Ryan got in and she started the car up.

Once Ryan was inside and buckled up (because even if there weren’t any laws requiring it, most demons agreed that it was still a good idea to wear a seatbelt) Cherri headed out of the parking lot and onto the main road.

“So, where exactly is this parking garage where your bike is?” Cherri asked

“Just a few blocks from Perkins & Co., know where I’m talking about?” Ryan responded

“Yeah, it’s that accounting place on Dosh Drive, has that tackey gold sign?”

“That’s the one”

“Awesome. Say, what were you doing in the greed district before smiles called you up, picking up some numbers you had’em run?”

“Nah, but it did help with my finances”

“Hmmm...investing?”

“Nope, though you could call it an investment”

“Well damn it, what were you doing?”

“Bounty hunting”

“Bounty hunting?”

“Yep, it’s what I do for a living. Great fun, plus it pays pretty damn well too”

“Huh, who was the target?”

“Perkins himself actually”

“No kidding, huh? Who was after him?”

“Lord Mammon, apparently Perkins was over a decade late on his taxes and had killed the last two guys Mammon sent after him”

“Really? Damn, how’d you manage to pull it off when two other guys wound up erased because of this guy?”

“Easy, I played it smart. I knew that the guards he kept in front of his door to try and scare off people like me were more brawn than brains, so I just said that if they kept me from seeing their boss I’d tell Mammon and it’d be their asses on the line, and they let me right in. After that, I used my blood magic on him to paralyze him, then I snapped his neck so that he wouldn’t try and escape once the magic wore off and made for the exit. Unfortunately, he hit his silent alarm before I could stop him, so as I was making a break for it I had to deal with his goons, although thankfully my magic punched through them like tissue paper. Just as I was getting out the door, Al opened a portal underneath me and I fell straight into the hotel. Thought I wasn’t going to get my reward, but once I explained the situation to Al, he warped Perkin’s body to Mammon’s office, with a note telling Mammon to transfer the reward to the usual account, then you know the rest.”

“Wow, that sounds like a hell of a job, I might have to try that for myself sometime!”

“ I’d be more than happy to let you tag along on a job, let you see what it’s like without getting in over your head.”

“What? You don’t think I can handle it?” Cherri smirked

“Pffft, no, I think you could probably handle it, I just figured that it’d let you get your feet wet before you go all-in”

“Ha, yeah, that’s totally what you meant” Cherri joked

Ryan just rolled his eyes

“So, what’s your story?” Cherri asked

“Huh?” Ryan responded, confused

“Like, what did you when you were alive, how’d you die, what’d you do to wind up in Hell, that kind of stuff”

“Oh, I see. I only ever had one job when I was alive: U.S marine. I joined right out of high school in ‘91, served for 12 years, and change, right up until...I believe it was July 12th of ‘03, when I got blown into grunt paste by some pissed-off Pakistani with a ticking turban, probably wasn’t enough to bury me in a shoebox...as for what I’m in for, well just take a wild guess”

“Wrath?”

“Wrath. I killed God knows how many people when I was alive. Mind you they were crazy people willing to strap bombs to themselves and kill innocent people to make their point, but as it turns out, it doesn’t matter to the man upstairs, murder is murder. Heh, so much for “blessed are the peacekeepers” huh?”

“Heh, yeah. So, what rank were you?”

Ryan took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeve to show the section of his fur that was permanently colored white in the shape of his insignia. Cherri saw what he was doing out of the corner of her eye and turned to see the symbol on his shoulder: three chevrons, one above the other, with the bottom one having its two ends connected by a semi-circle, and inside of those two shapes were a pair of crossed rifles

“Huh, Staff Sargent, cool”

“That’s- that’s right, how’d you know that ?”

“I met a few marines in my time”

“In your time?”

“Yeah, I was in the military too”   
“Really? What unit? I might have bumped into you”

“Nah, you wouldn’t have, I died before you even enlisted, plus I was in the Australian military, not the U.S military”   
“Really? Huh, never would have known just by hearing you. What branch were you in, what rank were you, when’d you die, and how?”

“Well, in order: Yeah, I lost my accident after all the time I’ve been here, the army, a Sergent, November 5th of ‘86, and I was trying to defuse a bomb and got blown to smithereens”

“Hmm, well that’s all very interesting. Must’ve been hard for you to get in, being a woman and all, women in combat is still an ongoing debate”

“Yeah, I got a hard time from some of the more old school brass, but after how well I did in basic, they kind of had no choice”

“Plus, you even got promoted up to Sergent. You know, I just realized, I outrank you, so you kind of have to do whatever I tell you” Ryan grinned at the thought, he wouldn’t make her do anything weird or crazy, but pulling the “I’m your superior officer” card on her would be pretty funny

“Hold on there Sgt. Hartman, our ranks work differently than yours. A Sgt. in the Australian army is equal to a Staff Sgt. in the marines. If I remember the NATO code correctly, we’re both ranked OR-6, which means you can’t command me to do shit, so HA” 

“Dang it, I thought I had you there” Ryan joked

“You wish. Oh, one last thing, since you showed me yours, I’ll show you mine” Cherri then took her left hand off of the steering wheel and reached around herself, pulling up her right sleeve to show a tattoo of three yellow downward pointing chevrons outlined in olive green, her rank.

“Nice tattoo, but why’d you get your rank tattooed on your arm?”

“I didn’t. Like I’m willing to bet is the case with that off-color patch of fur on you, I showed up down here with it”

“Yeah, that’s exactly what happened with me, I didn’t know that it happened to anyone else”

“Same here, up until I saw yours”

“Huh, weird...I would normally assume that it happens to every soldier who ends up down here, but I know for a fact that Husk served in Vietnam, and I don’t recall seeing a rank mark on him. I’ll have to ask him about that at some point”

“How do you know Mr. Grumpy Cat and little Mrs. Neatfreak anyways?”

“I met them how you would expect: through Al. He’s thrown the three of us together a couple of times over the years, but it’s been a good bit since he last summoned me.” 

“Yeah? Well, seems like you three get along pretty well, especially you and uhh, Nifty, I think her name was?”

“Yeah, that’s right. I think Nifty sees me as a sort of role model, kind of like a big brother, even though, counting years since death, she’s old enough to be like my great-grandma. As for Husk, he usually treats me the way he treats everyone else: with indifference and occasional annoyance, but there’s mutual respect between soldiers between the two of us as well, even if he doesn’t always show it.”

“Alright, then how’d you meet smiles?”

“Well, I kind of shouted it out at Vaggie, so I suppose there’s no point in beating around the bush. I met him soon after I arrived in hell. Like most everyone else when the first fall, I was scared shitless. While wandering the streets I bumped into him. He could tell I was a newbie and said that if I agreed to serve him he’d give me the power to keep myself safe. I agreed, and the rest is history.”

“Jeez, that must suck, getting suckered into making a deal fresh from the fall, and with the radio demon to boot.”

“It’s not been so bad, like I said, he’s only called on me a few times over the years, the rest of the time I’m free as a breeze. Plus, as per our deal, I’m only forced to accept reasonable requests from him, so he can’t force me to do things like throwing myself onto an angel’s spear or stand motionless while he tortures me for his amusement.”

“Damn, for fresh meat you sure navigated that deal well.”

“I mostly consider myself lucky on that front. If I was a weaker man, I probably would have taken his deal without a second thought.”

“Alright, one last question: that hunter’s bane thing you had me and Vaggie drink, where’d you learn to make it?”

“Ah, well, a few years after I fell, I was in between jobs and looking for some more permanent work. One day I saw a flyer for this place called “The Blood Hunter’s Lodge”, said they were looking for new members, so I figured why not check it out, might be worth my while. I show up, get interviewed, get a psych eval, all that good fun stuff. Once the interview is over, they look over everything and tell me that I passed that part. Then they pretty much do to me what I did to you, showing me how to brew the bane, strapping me down, feeding the bane to me, and then training me once all was said and done.”

“Well, that was pretty simple huh?”

“Yeah, surprisingly it was. One of these days I’ll have to take you and Vaggie up there, get you two some more formal training.”

“That’d be pretty cool. Oh, is this the right parking garage?” Cherri pointed to a parking garage on their right

“Yes, it is” Ryan confirmed as Cherri pulled up to the entrance and parked.

“Alright, thanks for the ride, I’ll see you tomorrow” Ryan unbuckled and dug around in his jacket pockets for a minute before pulling out a small piece of paper.

“I think I’ll wait right here, I want to see this motorcycle of yours”

Ryan smirked “Alright, suit yourself, I’ll be back in just a minute.” Ryan got out and walked up to the bored-looking demon in the booth, before showing them the piece of paper. The guard opened up the bar blocking the way in. 

Ryan headed inside, then a few minutes later rode back out on his bike.

Ryan’s bike was a sleek black two-seat cruiser, with an amped-up V-twin engine, a custom gas tank painted with the image of a wolf running against the night sky, and two big saddlebags on the sides to hold just about anything he might need. Ryan himself looked slightly different too, he had his black leather jacket zipped and buttoned up, he was wearing a set of black fingerless leather motorcycle gloves, and a motorcycle helmet that was painted half red and half black, with the red side having three black claw marks painted on.

Now it was Cherri’s turn to be impressed. “Damn, that’s a slick bike, it custom too?”

“Not completely, but I’ve tinkered with it a bit over the years.” Ryan lifted the faceplate of his helmet so Cherri could hear him better.

“Well, in the cool vehicle contest, I think you’ve got my car beat”

“What? No way! Your car is way cooler!”

“Aw, you’re just saying that to make me feel better. Anyways, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Alright, see ya,” Ryan said, revving his bike up and driving away, but not before he decided to show off one last time by popping a wheelie, earning a whistle of applause from Cherri. 

As he rode off into the night, he considered himself lucky that he was wearing his helmet, or Cherri might have caught him blushing at her compliment.


	6. That Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ryan arrives home and starts to do some thinking...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I lied :P, brief filler chapter before we get to the training. Don't worry though, first training chapter should be coming tomorrow. For now, as always, feedback is appreciated, and Enjoy!

Ryan unlocked the front door to his apartment and walked in, hanging his helmet on the rack by the door and doing the same with his jacket. 

With how hectic today was, he was glad to finally be home, plus he was starting to get hungry, so some dinner was in order. 

After mulling it over for a minute, he concluded that he was not in the mood to cook tonight, so he decided he was just going to make a frozen pizza.

Once he set the oven to preheat, he headed to his room to change into something more comfortable. 

When he was done changing, the oven still hadn’t heated up, so he just sat there and waited in silence.

That was one of the things he hated about his current situation: he was completely alone, a feeling which even all these years later, he still wasn’t used to. 

For all of his life, he’d been surrounded by other people. 

He’d lived with his family until he graduated, then he’d immediately enlisted and got sent off to Parris Island for basic training where he lived with other recruits. 

Same when he finally shipped out, surrounded by other soldiers that he knew always had his back.

When he fell he found himself without a familiar face in sight. 

Sure he’d made friends down here, but at the end of the day (literally and metaphorically) when he came home he was all alone.

He knew that the solution to his loneliness was to put himself out there and get a girlfriend, but even in Hell, he scared most women off.

_ Although…  _ he thought to himself  _ Cherri doesn’t seem scared of me, maybe- *BEEEP*  _ his thoughts were cut short by the oven going off to signal that it was done preheating.

He opened up his freezer and pulled out the pizza, taking it out of the box and placing it on the waiting oven rack.

He set the timer and went to find something to watch.

After searching for a while he finally settled on an action movie just in time for the oven to go off again. 

He got a plate out of his cabinets and pulled the pizza out before setting it on the plate and sitting down on his couch to watch his movie.

After he’d eaten his dinner he finished watching his movie before grabbing a shower and heading off to bed. 

As he lay there, his mind wandered back to Cherri; how she wasn’t scared of him even when he yelled at Vaggie, how easily they bounced off of each other, their shared military background, and of course that round of applause she gave when he popped that wheelie as he rode off. 

He had no idea how such a simple gesture had gotten to him, but it had, and now he was, dare he say it... in love?

_ Maybe, just maybe…  _ He thought as he drifted off to sleep. 


End file.
